Questions for Full Council Monday 14th September, 2020

Question 6

Cllr. Ashraf to Cllr King

Will this council collate information, stories how communities and people have coped during the covid19 pandemic as lessons learned?

Response

A Covid-19 lessons learned log was created fairly early on in the pandemic. This log includes the following information:

- Description of the lesson learned
- Whether it was a success or issue
- The impact that the success or issue had
- The actual lesson learned
- Any actions required
- Opportunities for new ways of working

Contributions to the log were received from members of the Strategic Command Group (SCG), the Tactical Command Group (TCG) and the wider management team within the Council.

The lessons learned that have been captured include those that had a direct impact on the way in which the Council mobilised itself to deal with the pandemic, as well as operational issues and successes. As a number of officers from the SCG and TCG were also part of the county wide cells that were established to deal with the pandemic e.g. the Community Resilience Cell, therefore the lessons learned log is wide ranging.

We are also sharing our learning with other local authorities on an ongoing basis. A couple of days ago we provided information to colleagues in Norfolk about actions taken to deal with the Greencore situation.

Northampton is fortunate in having a strong, well established community engagement network. The past five months have impelled our community and voluntary sector, local businesses and faith groups. Many effective partnerships have emerged at neighbourhood level, which will last longer than covid-19. A fundamental part of the operation and success of the community resilience work has been a result of the community and voluntary sector, the strength of its existence and emergence in the town has been tremendous.

More than 650 volunteers signed up to support our most vulnerable residents in Northampton –these volunteers have been and continue to be matched up by the team with existing community and voluntary groups (127 that have registered with the hub). We regularly ask and they share their experiences which we have collated. These are being fed through and included through various communication channels, networks and social media. The museum is collecting material and commissioning a number of artists to capture this unique moment in history. This will build an archive of material for the collections and an exhibition is in development, which will reflect the reactions, creations and commemorations of the Northants community, alongside recording any long-term changes to society.

The exhibition will be a space for the people of Northampton to discuss their experiences, both good and bad, during Covid-19, celebrate the good things created by the crisis, to thank all the people who cared for the sick and memorialise those that have died during the pandemic.

Material is being collected that reflects four broad themes

**Stay at Home** How have people responded to lockdown. An example would be Rainbows/Children’s drawings in windows, though there are a myriad of other responses and activities to be collected and included.

**NHS and key workers** Stories of How NGH/carers carried on to save lives and how key workers such as delivery drivers, postal staff, community support workers, refuse collectors, shop staff, the food industry have adapted how they work and continued to provide vital services to keep the country going.

**Not Business as Usual** How Northamptonshire companies tuned their skills to help with COVID 19/people were furloughed/music/art that came out of the crisis. How or if life has changed after the crisis (however this will need to take into account that project has a completion date).

**Saving Lives** Local and national government posters, letters and flyers, public information films and public information films and artworks made by individuals. It is anticipated that we may include the topic In Memoriam under this theme, remembering all those that have lost their lives to Covid-19, however this will very much be dependent on the feedback we receive from the public during the project.

Cllr A King Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Engagement